A QUIET DAY IN THE GARDEN

A QUIET DAY IN THE GARDEN

Summer has now given way to the beginning of autumn. Garden flowers are still hanging on but every cold night gives them a wee fright. On the allotment most summer crops have been gathered in but there are still plenty of autumn crops to harvest before we make a start to the winter selection.

Autumn Bliss raspberries are very prolific with fruits very large and no sign of any raspberry beetle maggots. Plenty of rasps to enjoy fresh as well as plenty for the freezer so we can have raspberry jam all year round.

Strawberries are still coming in from my row of Flamingo, a perpetual variety which will fruit till the frosts come in.

Figs are unbelievable this year. We have picked well over 70 fruits from one bush from early August till the end of September. This outdoor fig Brown Turkey enjoyed a very mild winter so most of the young fruits which I left on over winter (against normal advice) survived and produced plenty of mature fruits. Although they do not keep more than two days, we had no problem eating a few figs every other day for a couple of months.

Apple Discovery started to drop as the fruits ripened so they have all been picked and stored for eating for the next few weeks until Fiesta ripens, then Falstaff and Red Devil.

Apples get stewed, used in crumbles and added to my favourite fry up with bacon, eggs, mushroom and tomatoes. We use all the fruits one way or another after cutting off damaged and bruised bits, but just love a freshly picked Discovery as it is a very tasty early apple.

Autumn salad leaves including rocket, continue to add variety to our salad bowl. Pigeons were a problem on the young salad leaves but a net soon solved that problem.

Swiss chard and  kale are now in season for stir fries and soups and should keep cropping all winter.

Clubroot has reared its ugly head wiping out many cabbage and cauliflowers as well as a third of my wallflower transplants. The ground had all been limed, but August was cool and wet helping the disease to develop and spread. Some brassicas have resistance bred into them and were ok, but most others got affected.

Clover and tares green manures have all germinated and are now covering most of my spare ground. I will leave them till winter or flowering before I dig them in.

Greenhouse crops

Tomatoes are beginning to wind down as the cooler weather causes a lot of foliage to rot from botrytis. Remove all diseased leaves as soon as possible to stop it spreading. However I leave as much green leaves on as possible as these keep feeding younger growing tomatoes. There are still a lot of tomatoes wanting to ripen up, so these could last several more weeks. Once they have to come out I will re-use the space to plant up some winter lettuce and autumn salad leaves which will keep us supplied with fresh green salads for a few months.

Seedless grapes Flame and Perlette have been attacked by wasps, so they have all been picked to minimise the damage. So far they have not touched the Black Hamburg grapes as they are not quite ready yet.

Keep the greenhouse fully ventilated at most times to prevent any build up of diseases.

Amaryllis bulbs which got dried off in mid summer have now been cleaned up the largest bulbs repotted as they have had three years in the same pot. I packed six bulbs close together in one pot and used fresh compost, but kept half the bulbs above the surface as they do not like to be buried.

They should flower after about three months so hopefully they could be ready for Christmas.

Painting of the month

“Summer Colour” is an acrylic on a box canvas and will be on display together with over 60 paintings from my art class students in our autumn exhibition at Dundee Botanical Gardens from Saturday 4^th October to Sunday 12^th October 2014.

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IRIS

IRIS

I first came across irises when I got my first allotment garden at Stirling Park on the side of Dundee’s Law Hill. There was a beautiful row of blue coloured English iris well established along the main garden path. To add to the show I had bought some Dutch iris bulbs though these flowered after the English iris. Later in 1969 while studying at Essex Institute of Agriculture in Chelmsford we got involved in breeding flowers of the large and very colourful bearded iris. I got hooked and now iris is on my must have plant list.

Bearded iris

Iris comes in a range of types and sizes. The most popular are the tall bearded iris, Iris germanica, also known as flag iris with thousands of different varieties available most of which are scented. They are always available in garden centres, though there are several specialists where you can get the very best varieties but usually at a higher price. These iris grow from rhizomes and are best planted in autumn. They like to be in the sun in fertile soil that is well drained and either neutral to slightly alkaline in pH. When planting keep the rhizomes on the soil surface as they will rot if planted deep.

Established clumps will need splitting up and replanting every three years or so.

English and Dutch Iris

The English and Dutch iris grows from bulbs, usually planted about six inches deep in autumn.  The yellow, white, purple and blue flowers open in summer growing up to two feet tall. The English types are very hardy and can be left to form large clumps over several years before they need lifting and replanting. However the Dutch iris are best treated like a tulip by planting them in autumn, then lifting them in summer after the leaves have died down. They can be stored in a cool shaded place.

Bog and pond garden iris

Although most iris prefer drier soil and a warm sunny sheltered spot there is even an iris for the less sunny and more moist  garden. Iris sibirica prefers a more permanently moist soil associated with pond fringes, but do not plant it in very wet soil otherwise it will rot.

Iris sibirica flowers in summer with blue, purple and white flowers up to 2.5 feet tall.

Rock garden iris

The rock garden is also well catered for with a range of dwarf irises most of which flower in late February to March. These all prefer a well drained soil in full sun and it is important that the ground is very well drained in winter. It is a good idea to incorporate grit as well as some well rotted garden compost into the soil before planting. Iris reticulata and iris histrioides grows about six inches tall with blue flowers. Iris danfordiae grows the same size but has yellow flowers.

Plant of the week

 Kaffir Lily (Schizostylus coccinea) is also related to the iris family. It is a semi evergreen herbaceous perennial growing in clumps about 24 inches tall with white, pink and red flowers in late autumn and early winter. It prefers moist but well drained fertile soil and a warm sheltered aspect in full sun. It is fairly hardy in most winters.

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TRY A DIFFERENT BERRY

TRY A DIFFERENT BERRY

Plant breeders are always coming up with some new form of plant by experimenting with cross pollinating one type of plant with another. It is fun to try out something new or different and it always creates an interesting talking point for those with an interest in gardening. There is a wide range of new types of fruiting bushes available as well as improved forms of all our standard varieties.

Blackcurrant breeding has been going on at the James Hutton Institute for a long time creating the “Ben” series with my favourite being Ben Conan with huge fruits. However breeders have now created a blackcurrant with an even bigger and sweeter berry called Big Ben that may well temp us to eat it fresh from the punnet like a strawberry.

My Big Ben blackcurrant bush had a very small crop this summer, but not enough to judge.

Gooseberries are also being improved with mildew resistance now normal, and thornless types to make picking easier coming soon.

Raspberries have had a lot of attention with new types of autumn fruiting varieties such as Joan J, Autumn Treasure and Polka claimed to have massive sized berries. I am trying Polka but so far it is no bigger than Autumn Bliss though I need a few more seasons to assess it.

Blackberries have also had the attention of the breeders, initially interested in creating thornless types. This is now normal but interest now involves primocane types to fruit on canes grown the same year. The new variety of primocane blackberry Reuben is said to have immense sized fruit ripening from September to November.

Worcesterberries are a cross between a blackcurrant and a gooseberry. The medium sized fruit is very sweet and tasty but the bushes which can grow quite tall have vicious thorns.

Jostaberry is another similar cross with black coloured fruit tasting and looking like both gooseberry and blackcurrants. It grows up to two metres tall and the fruit is easier to pick as the bush is thornless.

Honeyberries are a medium sized, hardy, deciduous shrub. This blue fruiting honeysuckle is relatively easy to grow but it flowers very early in the year when there are very few pollinating insects around so hand pollination may be necessary to achieve a crop.

Goji or Wolfberry has been grown in vast acreages on the fertile floodplains of the Yellow River in China for hundreds of years. Unsubstantiated health benefit claims created a huge demand for the fruit. It is a vigorous deciduous rambling shrub which will eventually produce orange fruits. I have tried unsuccessfully to get several of these to fruit over the last six years but with no success. However my rampant bushes ten foot tall did not survive the mild winter, though this might be an infection of the root rot phytophthora, which I seem to be plagued with.

Japanese wineberry is a type of ornamental raspberry. It grows and fruits like the raspberry having delicious sweet fruits, but is not common. It is quite attractive in winter with its bright red stems.

Saskatoons, also known as Juneberry is the fruiting form of the Amelanchier and native to North America. They are very hardy and easy to grow. The fruit is similar to the blueberry, but fruits at the end of July while the blueberry fruits in August to September. Saskatoons are eaten fresh in season or can be frozen for use later in jams, compote, cakes and brews into a brilliant wine.

Plant of the week

Day Lily (Hemerocallis) is an herbaceous perennial flowering from spring to late summer depending on type. It has been extensively bred to produce every colour except blue and pure white. Some types are scented. They like most well drained soils and will tolerate dry conditions and to get the best flowers give them a place in full sun.

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AUTUMN PROPAGATION

AUTUMN PROPAGATION

September and October are great months for propagating all sorts of plants. They have had their summer growing period and now stems are beginning to harden up ahead of the winter, but there is still enough warmth left to keep parts of the plant active. Roots can continue to develop at this time of year. Many flowering and fruiting shrubs can be propagated by hardwood cuttings taken immediately before and just after leaf fall. Herbaceous plants can be divided and replanted in autumn and many annuals are ready for harvesting seed pods to save our own seed for sowing next spring. Now is also the time to take cuttings of geraniums and impatiens from the best varieties to root at home and over winter on a windowsill or in the greenhouse if it has some heat.

Hardwood cuttings

This is a very busy time for nurseries that produce a lot of their shrubs from hardwood cuttings.

Cornus, senecio, cistus, lavender, rosemary, forsythia, philadelphus euonymus, viburnums and hundreds of others will all root from a cutting about four to six inches long, removing the lower leaves and making a cut under a leaf node or with some such as pyracantha pulling off the shoot with a heel. These are then lined out in trays or in a cold frame bedded in a propagation medium (mixture of half compost and half sharp sand or grit.) Keep the compost moist and the frame well ventilated in sunny weather. Plants should be well rooted and put on some growth by next summer when they can be carefully removed and either potted up or planted out.

Blackcurrants and gooseberries can also be done this way, though they do not need the protection of a cold frame.

Divide herbaceous plants

Flag iris, oriental poppies, heleniums, Shasta daisies and many others can be lifted, divided and replanted. Add compost and some fertiliser at this stage. Heucheras can be propagated by pulling off sideshoots and using them as cuttings in a cold frame or greenhouse. They will root in a couple of months.

Collect seeds

Poppy ladybird, Himalayan blue poppies, other poppies and annuals that produce viable seed pods can be harvested for their seeds. Dry off the pods and extract the seed storing them dry but cool.

Summer flowers

Geraniums and Impatiens can be propagated by cuttings taken now. Geranium cuttings of about three inches long snapped off the plant and potted up will root after a few months and can be over wintered on a sunny windowsill. Keep them frost free and cool, but if you wish to produce more plants grow them warmer and feed them. As soon as they are big enough take out the tops and use these as extra cuttings.
Impatiens are even easier as cuttings three inches long with all lower leaves removed are dropped into a jar of water. They will root in about six weeks and can then be potted up.

Both these plants are suitable as flowering house plants in early winter then again in spring.

Plant of the week

Gladioli have been at their best for several weeks. They can really add colour, impact and height to flower borders and it is possible to pick up bags of really good corms very cheaply.

The corms are lifted and dried off to store over winter in a cool dry place free from mice and each year you can add a few more corms of different varieties.

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